The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has developed several 802.1X specifications that define communication protocols used by network devices operating in wireless local area networks (WLANs). For example, the communication protocols include authentication schemes that can be used to securely exchange data between the network devices. The communication protocols include power-saving strategies that can be used to save power in the network devices. The communication protocols include synchronization schemes to synchronize clocks of the network devices, and so on.